Sego Lily Spring 43(2) Spring 2020 Volume 43 Number 2 Dandelion Relatives ..................... 2 Salt Lake Chapter Report ........... 5 Cyperus michelianus ................... 6 2020 Rare Plant Meeting ......... 12 Glyptopleura marginata Alice Eastwood ............................. 15 Utah Native Plant Society Some Special Dandelion Relatives by William Gray bracts known as an involucre. Individual flowers are of two main kinds, disk and ray. As far as corollas are Ninety-nine percent of all members of the huge concerned each disk flower has 4 or 5 petals fused into a composite family (Asteraceae) are assigned to four main lobed tube; in ray flowers the tube fails to close along subfamilies, and most North American species to just one side and is flattened out to make what looks like a three of those. Broadly speaking these are the aster-like single large petal, more correctly known as a ligule. The (Asteroideae) thistlelike (Carduoideae) and dandelion- small lobes may be more or less visible as separate or chicory-like (Cichorioideae) plants. A couple of years teeth. ago I wrote a short article for Sego Lily about the renaming of 'our' Asters and now it's time for a little Plants of the Aster subfamily usually have both ray and about some of our chicory-related plants. This time the disk flowers, those of the Thistle subfamily have only focus is more an introduction to a group of less-familiar disk flowers, and those of the Chicory subfamily have plants than to taxonomy. only ray flowers in one or several series. In the Microseris subtribe which is our focus here the ligules The subfamily is most diversified in the Eastern can be large and showy with very obvious teeth. hemisphere: dandelion, chicory, salsify and lettuce are Oftentimes only the inner flowers are fertile while the familiar examples brought over from Europe as a source outer ones serve to attract pollinators rather than of salad greens and edible roots. They are all part of the reward them. chicory 'tribe' Cichoriae. However, the western US has many fine native examples of its own, which may carry What about the calyx? Many families have soft green names such as Desert Chicory, Desert Dandelion or sepals but in composites the calyx develops instead into Mountain Dandelion. I don't know of them being used as all sorts of little appendages that function as dispersal food, but some of their flowers are outstanding. agents. Thistle-down and the fluffy parachutes of dandelions are familiar examples. Bristles, scales and A typical attribute of this group is that flower heads awns are also common. 'Pappus' is used to describe this contain only ray flowers. These develop into seed heads modified calyx structure in all its forms. Seeds are dry which can be spectacular aggregates of intricate little achenes to which the pappus is attached. parachutes. Leaves are mostly or entirely basal with juice that is usually milky and somewhat bitter. Another Figure 1a shows a flowering head of Microseris nutans characteristic, though not universal, is that they tend to while 1b shows a head of Microseris (Uropappus) lindleyi flower early in the morning and be closed by early that has gone to seed; 1c is a close-up of achenes with a afternoon. pappus of flattened shiny bristles, each with a slender awn. Sometimes the seeds with pappus are beautiful in At a recent meeting of the Salt Lake Chapter of UNPS their own right. Steve Hegji asked us to send in a few photos that showed especially interesting or beautiful native plants. Microseris Subtribe About 20 genera are recognized, One I submitted aroused a lot of interest because of its many of them occurring in the southwestern US. Two striking appearance – and also because most in the thirds of the genera are small with 5 or fewer species. audience had never seen, or even heard of it. Some are real desert plants with but a limited distribution in Utah – and they can be strikingly Chicory itself is familiar as a tall straggly plant with handsome! pretty blue flowers, common as a roadside weed. Its non-fluffy seeds are rarely even noticed. Close relatives Remarkably, almost all species of this subtribe found in in the Southwest form a small 'subtribe' named after a the whole Intermountain Region also occur in Utah, with genus of rather inconspicuous plants including our a concentration in the south and west parts of the state. Nodding Silverpuffs, Microseris nutans. I'll use the term Table 1 lists genera in the arrangement given by the Microseris subtribe instead of Microseridinae. European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT). Their website is backed by a consortium of very up-to- Asteraceae Flowers. Recall that in the composite family date researchers, and Wikipedia is a great source for as a whole what seems like one large flower is actually a their current views on classification, with easy-to- head of smaller flowers, surrounded by a cluster of navigate phylogenetic trees. Cover photo by William Gray also appears uncropped on page 5. 2 Sego Lily Spring 43(2) Genus Common Names Species Intermountaina Agoseris Mountain Dandelion 14 5 (5) Microseris Silverpuffs 44 1 (1) Nothocalais Silverpuffs 4 1 (1) Uropappus Silverpuffs 3 1 (1) Chaetadelpha Skeletonweed 1 1 (0) Lygodesmia Skeleton Plant 9 2 (2) Malacothrix Desert Dandelion 20 5 (5) Atrichoseris Parachute Plant 1 1 (1) Stephanomeria Wire Lettuce 19 7 (5) Rafinesquia Desert Chicory 2 2 (2) Pleiacanthus Thorny Skeletonweed 1 1 (1) Prenanthella Brightwhite 1 1 (1) Glyptopleura Crustleaf 2 2 (2) Table 1 Microseris subtribe in the Intermountain Region. This treatment is based on that of the European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT), accessed via Wikipedia ™ 3/13/2020. aNumber of species treated in Intermountain Flora with those recognized in A Utah Flora in parentheses; taxon names are from EDIT. Flora of North America (FNA) and other authorities plants of drier to moist sites in the mountains and separate two more monospecific genera (Anisocoma and foothills, rather than harsh deserts. Leaves are mostly Calycoseris) from Malacothrix, both of which are native basal while flower heads have a long narrow involucre. to the Intermountain Region. A brief description of A. aurantiaca is illustrated. It is sometimes quite pinkish several genera follows, with a portrait gallery in at high elevations. Figure 2. Microseris This is the genus after which the subtribe is Agoseris Our most commonly encountered members of named, also the largest and most widespread. the group are Pale Mountain Dandelion (A. glauca) and Uropappus and Nothocalais were separated from Orange Mountain Dandelion (A. aurantiaca). These are Microseris as a result of modern research. a b c Figure 1 Characteristic features of the Microseris subtribe. a Nodding Silverpuffs, Microseris nutans, flower head showing ligules with 5 teeth, Salt Lake Co., Utah; b, c Silverpuffs, Microseris (Uropappus) lindleyi seed head and close-up of achene with pappus, Cochise Co., Arizona. 3 Utah Native Plant Society a b c d e f g Figure 2 A portrait gallery of the Microseris subtribe. a Orange Dandelion, Agoseris aurantiaca Salt Lake Co., Utah; b Smooth Desert Dandelion, Malacothrix glabrata, Kane Co., Utah; c Antelope Island Skeleton Plant, Lygodesmia grandiflora var. dianthopsis, Salt Lake Co., Utah; d Showy Rushpink, Lygodesmia grandiflora var. grandiflora, Emery Co., UT; e Scale-bud, Anisocoma (Malacothrix) acaulis, Mono Co., California; f Desert Chicory, Rafinesquia neomexicana, Inyo Co., California; g Parachute Plant, Atrichoseris platyphylla, Inyo Co., California. Lygodesmia Thin stems give rise to the name inconspicuous stems. Basal leaf clusters are very robust, Skeletonweed. Authorities differ as to how many species however. should be recognized. Rather than the nine indicated in Stephanomeria Flower heads are small while the stems Table 1 more conservative treatments include several as are thin and wiry Hence the name 'Wirelettuce' (not named varieties within L. grandiflora. Two of the more illustrated). Prenanthella was formerly included here. striking are shown in Figure 2. Variety dianthopsis is widespread in our foothills and comes in pink or white. Rafinesquia Stunning as individuals and doubly so Variety grandiflora is a gorgeous plant found in Pinyon- when a vigorous plant has a display of many flower Juniper woodland. The genus used to include the spiny heads. Inhabiting the Mohave Desert areas it is often set shrub now known as Pleiacanthus. against a background of harsh rock or vivid sand. Malacothrix Intermountain Region boasts several Glyptopleura Two little gems enter Utah mainly in the species, the most distinctive of which is the Smooth extreme south and west. Holy Dandelion, Glyptopleura Desert Dandelion (M. glabrata), with slender divided setulosa occurs here at the northern edge of its range leaves and showy yellow flowers. Most other members which scatters from Arizona across to the Mohave of the genus are less conspicuous and can be hard to tell Desert of Southern California. Its flowers are relatively apart. Many authorities, including FNA keep two species huge, in some ways echoing small pincushion cacti such apart as separate genera, Anisocoma (illustrated) and as Pediocactus winkleri. Calycoseris. And finally, the one that got me into writing this article, Atrichoseris The sole member of the genus is A. Glyptopleura marginata. Utah plants are at the eastern platyphylla which makes a fine show when Death Valley edge of the species range which is primarily along the has a good Spring bloom. Known as Parachute Plant California side of the Great Basin and Mohave Desert. Its because the white flower heads seem to float above vernacular names "Crustleaf" or "Carveseed" don't do 4 Sego Lily Spring 43(2) a b c Figure 3 The planet’s only two Carveseeds (Glyptopleura) are found in Utah.